Heat-generating modules can include one or more heat-generating components that, if operated without intervention, can fail due to thermal stress. Example heat-generating modules or components can include electricity consuming components or power dissipating components, such as a resistive element, or power converting components, such as a transformer. The heat-generating modules can also be affected by additional operating or environmental factors. Additional factors that can impact the heat-generating modules can include, but are not limited to, the amount of heat generated, the rate of heat generation, the length of time operated, or the operating environment such as ambient temperature, solar load, or volumetric space. Thus, heat-generating modules can be designed to operate under specific heat management or heat-mitigation configurations.
A heat management or heat-mitigation configuration can include passive or active cooling features. Passive cooling systems typically focus on thermal control, or thermal management that uses virtually no additional energy, apart from the energy utilized by the heat-generating module, itself. For example, a first heat-generating module can be configured to expose a surface, or a series of thermally conductive fins thermally coupled with the module, to the ambient air in order to passively dissipate an amount of heat by way of thermal convection or thermal radiation to the surrounding environment. Moreover, the heat-generating module can be heat sunk to a thermal mass that can absorb its heat dissipation by conduction heat transfer and through an internal energy capture of the material. In contrast, active cooling typically utilizes additional energy to effect cooling of the heat-generating module by use of an enthalpy differential. For example, a second heat-generating module can include a fluid (liquid or air) cooling circuit in thermal proximity to the module, and configured to operably dispense a fluid (liquid or air) through the circuit, wherein the fluid absorbs a portion of the heat and carries it away from the module, to actively dissipate an amount generated by the module by way of an increase in the enthalpy of the moving fluid.
Certain heat-generating modules need to be designed to operate in accordance with a wide variety of operating or environmental factors, including desert climate, freezing climate, or, in the examples of active cooling systems, available energy sources.